DTW: How the Vamps went to Hollywood

It's barely a month to Hallowe'en and whether your appetite leans more towards True Blood, Twilight, the upcoming Dracula television series (with Jonathan Rhys Meyers) or the proposed Dracula Unbound movie starring Luke Evans (due next year), there's no doubt vampire-tales have remained a dramatic and long-term staple in the entertainment industry. But, you need to know your prey. J M McDole gives you a bloody good history lesson on the creatures of the night...

The vampire’s image in film today ranges from the sparkly, impossibly attractive heart-throb to the hideously ugly and heartless monster. Although Bram Stoker’s late 19th Century novel Dracula set the standard for vampire canon in subsequent books, stories, and movies, the origins of this undead creature are actually much older and were very real to Europeans and Americans in the 1700s through the 1800s. There are marked differences in the appearance, social status and behaviour between historical vampiric canon and those popularised by our modern culture, particularly in film and television.

To read the rest of this article and gain access to all previous articles you need to have a subscription to Impact Extra. Sign up to Impact extra now and get a one month free trial.